The period when Consort Yun and Prince Duan began corresponding most frequently was during the months when Consort Yun was pregnant.
Bai Qing looked at Meng Ruoyun with a murderous gaze: "Consort Yun, isn't Jin Chang'an's corpse enough to teach you a lesson?"
Meng Ruoyun understood the emperor's meaning, and her eyes immediately reddened: "Your Majesty, do you still not believe me?"
"Young Master Jin has already died unjustly, yet Your Majesty still listens to Tianfu's wicked words. Are you now suspicious of me and Prince Duan?"
"I did not! I absolutely did not do such a thing! I swear on the lives of my entire clan that my relationship with Prince Duan is completely innocent!"
"I entered the palace at the age of sixteen. We gazed at each other from afar, from the walls and on horseback. Have you forgotten all those feelings?"
Faced with Meng Ruoyun's tearful questioning, Bai Qing no longer wanted to listen.
He raised his hand: "Take Consort Yun away and order her to commit suicide with poison."
Tears streamed down Meng Ruoyun's face as she cried out, "Your Majesty! The little prince is truly the heir of the dragon! Why don't you believe me..." Meng Ruoyun, who was being dragged away, was clearly no longer the aloof person she used to be. Tears streamed down her face as she cried out in a hoarse voice.
Meng Ruoyun was soon given poisoned wine and forced to commit suicide, and Prince Duan could not escape either.
Contrary to Bai Yan's expectations, he did not intend to seize power through Meng Ruoyun. He genuinely loved Meng Ruoyun, and upon learning of her accident, he led his attendants to the palace the very next day to rescue her.
The palace gates were heavily guarded. Before Prince Duan could even see Meng Ruoyun, he was shot to death by a hail of arrows from the black-clad guards on the city wall.
Bai Yan looked down from the city wall, where blood flowed in a winding stream, which the palace servants were now wiping away.
This conflict within the palace was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples that quickly subsided.
In the story, Jin Chang'an and Prince Duan helped Meng Ruoyun escape through a secret passage, one directly and the other indirectly causing the death of the original owner of the body. Now this matter is finally over.
...
Inside the study, Bai Qing's health has improved considerably after taking medicine for the past few days.
On this day, Bai Yan entered the palace to pay her respects to Bai Qing. Bai Qing glanced at his daughter and asked, "I heard from Liu Jin'an that you went to the docks?"
Bai Yan did not hide anything from him: "Your subject asked someone to send that child to Jiangnan."
Bai Qing paused slightly. Meng Ruoyun was a foolish mother who harmed her child, but wasn't he, as the father, just as bad...?
"Tianfu, do you think he will hate me, his father, if he grows up and learns the truth?" Bai Qing asked.
Bai Yan looked at him and said, "Father, you and I both know that this is the best outcome for him now."
Bai Qing sighed softly, his gaze falling on his daughter again. He had two sons and many daughters, but none of them could compare to the one before him...
From the moment she stirred up trouble between the Crown Prince and Consort Yun, and from the moment she vigorously brought female workers from Jiangnan to the capital, Bai Qing already knew his daughter's intentions.
Why did he disagree?
The Southern Dynasty's national strength and population are still developing, and it needs not only men but also women. As an emperor, Bai Qing is concerned about the hierarchy between men and women, but the Southern Dynasty's national strength now needs women to step forward. For the sake of his ancestors' legacy, he doesn't mind setting up a female emperor as a role model.
The political system of the Southern Dynasty was decaying and corrupt, and there were many like Jiangnan Prefecture, but Bai Qing no longer had the time to fight it out... He was old and his heart had softened, but the princess was shrewd and ruthless.
She has already proven herself.
"Tianfu, do you know what kind of bloodshed awaits you if you continue down this path?" Bai Qing looked at his daughter. "If you regret it, it's not too late."
Bai Yan looked at her father and chuckled, "Like father, like daughter. Has Father forgotten?"
Why should I hand over my own legacy to others? I can handle it.
"If the road ahead is blocked, I'll just fight my way through."
Seeing her imposing manner, Bai Qing no longer hesitated.
The following day, the emperor announced in court that Princess Tianfu would be made crown princess and that she would ascend the throne on an auspicious day at the beginning of the year.
No matter how powerful a princess may be, she is still a woman.
The court and the public were all in awe. Even though Liu Jin'an and others bowed down and submitted to the emperor, there were always old-fashioned people who petitioned the emperor to rescind his decree. The civil officials were even more indignant. Some old ministers even wanted to kill themselves by hitting a pillar on the day the empress ascended the throne, as a way of telling the heavens!
At that moment, the empress's crown swayed with pearls. She looked at the courtiers who were crying and making a fuss in the hall, raised her chin slightly, and sneered: "I am not my father. He cherishes the friendship of the courtiers from the past. I will not."
"You want to die? Then I will grant you death."
Meng Huaiyi escorted the old minister to the Western Paradise, and his three clans were all removed from the registers, reuniting in the Western Paradise.
In the following months, the Empress changed her previous attitude of ignoring the rumors and ordered Meng Huaiyi to massacre all those in the court who opposed her succession.
During those months, courtiers in Kyoto bled every day, and heads were chopped off in the markets every day.
Even the toughest tongue will eventually soften in the face of such tactics.
The Empress's ascension to the throne was accompanied by bloodshed and turmoil. Many people felt that her accession was illegitimate and that her murderous nature would inevitably lead to widespread suffering and resentment among the people. However, with the operation of the textile factory and the increase in productivity, the Southern Dynasty's national strength gradually increased, and the lost territories were reclaimed one by one by Meng Huaiyi, who was sent by the Empress.
The court officials who had initially hoped to restore order gradually lost that ambition over time.
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